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HB19-1280

Child College Savings Accounts

Concerning the creation of the college kickstarter account program to incentivize the creation of a college savings account for every child born in Colorado.

Session:

2019 Regular Session

Subject:

Education & School Finance (Pre & K-12)

Bill Summary

The bill creates the college kickstarter account program (kickstarter program) to provide initial funding (kickstarter funding) for a collegeinvest (authority) college savings account (account) for each child born or adopted in Colorado on or after January 1, 2020, but before January 1, 2040, (eligible child), encourage the parent or parents of each eligible child to claim the kickstarter funding by establishing an account, and, if sufficient funding from gifts, grants, and donations is received, provide a free financial literacy education program for eligible children and their parent or parents and other family members. The authority is required to implement and administer the kickstarter program; except that the state treasurer is required to develop and administer the program component of free financial literacy education. The authority may adopt rules that it deems necessary for the implementation and administration of the kickstarter program.

The authority is required to establish and fund a kickstarter program master account (master account) and to provide sufficient annual funding for the master account from money that is otherwise available for its scholarship and matching grant programs to be able to transfer a specified amount of kickstarter funding in the master account to the account of each eligible child. The authority must engage in a robust outreach and marketing program to encourage the parent or parents of each eligible child to claim the eligible child's kickstarter funding by opening an account for the eligible child within 5 years of the eligible child's birth or adoption and must transfer all kickstarter funding claimed from the master account to the eligible child's account. Kickstarter funding is not counted as income or resources of the eligible child or the parent or parents of the eligible child for purposes of determining eligibility or benefit amounts for any state-funded program.

The authority must conduct an ongoing summative evaluation to collect summative data to evaluate the kickstarter program's effectiveness over time and must prepare, present to its legislative oversight committees, and conspicuously post on its website an annual written report on the results of the ongoing summative evaluation. The college kickstarter account program fund is created to hold any gifts, grants, and donations obtained, and the authority and the state treasurer may spend money from the fund for the purposes of the kickstarter program.

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

Amendments

* Amendments passed in committee are not incorporated into the measure unless adopted by the full House or Senate.

** The status of Second Reading amendments may be subsequently affected by the adoption of an amendment to the Committee of the Whole Report. Refer to the House or Senate Journal for additional information.

Bill History

Date

Location

Action

05/13/2019

Governor

Governor Signed

05/09/2019

Governor

Sent to the Governor

05/09/2019

Senate

Signed by the President of the Senate

05/08/2019

House

Signed by the Speaker of the House

04/29/2019

Senate

Senate Third Reading Passed - No Amendments

04/27/2019

Senate

Senate Second Reading Special Order - Passed - No Amendments

04/26/2019

Senate

Senate Committee on Appropriations Refer Unamended to Senate Committee of the Whole

04/25/2019

Senate

Senate Committee on Finance Refer Unamended to Appropriations

04/17/2019

Senate

Introduced In Senate - Assigned to Finance

04/17/2019

House

House Third Reading Passed - No Amendments

04/16/2019

House

House Second Reading Special Order - Passed with Amendments - Committee

04/15/2019

House

House Second Reading Laid Over Daily - No Amendments

04/12/2019

House

House Committee on Appropriations Refer Amended to House Committee of the Whole